Education

Education is NOT a proper function of Federal government and Paul supports elimination of the Department of Education.

This is an area that Paul differs from the premise of the California Libertarian Party Platform. The Platform calls for the privatization of public education in California. Paul believes that public education can coexist with private entities if they are willing to compete.

Paul doesn't believe a immediate complete privatization of public education would be in the best interest of young children, as there needs to be an underlying infrastructure which can facilitate educating those whose parents are unable or unwilling to meet the financial obligations. The highest level of public education organization should be at the local district level with no State bureaucracy attached. Success or failure of the district will be based on their ability to compete with private institutions.

Paul does support minimal public funding of education, but such funding should be attached to the child, not to the school and not to the parent or family. This funding should be sufficient to provide students with an education to a compulsory standard through a 6th grade level and optional to the student to the level they wish to achieve through age 16.

This rate of funding would be set at a marginal rate by competitive bid from both public and private institutions. Students and their parents/guardians/trusted mentor would then be able to choose which institution the student wishes to attend. If the student wishes to attend institutions of education that cost more than the marginal rate the cost would be borne by the student and funded through parents, grants, or other private financial instruments including non-profit organizations.

As part of the Libertarian Platform Paul does support:

An end to compulsory busing.

An end to compulsory school attendance.

An end to interference with home schooling, in particular, an end to the policy in some counties of not allowing home schooling parents to file private school affidavits, and an end to the effort by local truant officers and social workers to control who can teach and what they can teach.

Repeal of the Proposition 98 funding guarantee for K-12 public education.

Unlimited tax credit, equal to the amount of the assistance, for any individual or business sponsoring a
person in an educational institution.

An end to licensing and regulation of private and parochial schools.

Allowing students to attend any school regardless of district boundaries.

Resisting the introduction of federally mandated or encouraged national education standards.

An end to government- or tax-funded pre-school programs.

An end to government subsidy of private education and an end to all government subsidies to students, such
as Pell Grants and the federal student loan program.

An end to tax-financed research (such as research in military hardware and techniques, farming techniques
and applications of high technology) in California educational institutions.

Abolition of California's monopoly lottery system for finance of education.

Education is always a volatile subject, but one way to remove the volatility is to allow decisions to be made by the persons affected by them. Central control by its very function removes rights of the individual.

Paul admits there is much debate on education and welcomes other productive comments and ideas.